Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/561

ORATORIO. Action. The only exception to the rule was 'Acis and Galatea'—one of the freshest and most delightful of the entire series—which was first privately performed at Cannons in 1721; and afterwards, on June 16, 1732, with Scenery, Dresses, and appropriate Decorations, but still without Action, at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket. The other pieces were, 'Parnasso in Festa' (1734), 'Alexander's Feast' (1736), 'Ode for S. Cecilia's Day (1739), 'L' Allegro, Il Peneieroso, ed Il Moderato' (1739), 'Semele' (1743), 'Hercules' (1744), 'The Choice of Hercules' (1745 [App. p.735 "1750"]), and 'The Triumph of Time and Truth' (1757). In these, neither Scenery nor Dresses were used; nor were such meretricious adornments needed, for they were all works of the first class, and, if they could not succeed on their own merits, would certainly not have been made to do so by the addition of a few theatrical accessories. The 'Triumph of Time and Truth' was originally written in Italy, in 1708, and had been sung in Italian in 1737 and 1739; but in 1757 Handel, though then totally blind, adapted it to English words, made great additions to it, and brought it out at Covent Garden Theatre, where it was performed four times during that year, and twice in 1758. The last public performance which Handel directed was that of the 'Messiah' at Covent Garden, on April 6, 1759. On the 14th of the same month, he peacefully breathed his last, 'in hope,' as he said, 'of meeting the good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on the Day of His Resurrection.'

It is manifestly impossible to associate Handel's Oratorios with those of any other Composer. They must needs form a class by themselves. Indeed, notwithstanding the jealousies of which he was made the unfortunate victim, he was held in so great reverence, that very few Oratorios were produced in England by rival Composers for many years after his decease; and, of these few, one only, Dr. Arne's 'Judith,' calls for special comment, not in recognition of its intrinsic worth—though its author was an accomplished Musician, and thoroughly in earnest—but, because it was the first work of the kind in which Female Voices had been permitted to take part in an English Chorus; for, though Madame Duparc (generally called 'La Francescina') sang as Prima Donna in most of Handel's Oratorios, the ripieni Trebles were always supplied by the Children of the Chapel Royal and S. Paul's Cathedral. 'Judith,' performed first at the Chapel of the Lock Hospital, on Feb. 29, 1764, and afterwards, with Female Voices in the Chorus, at Covent Garden, on Feb. 26, 1773, was by no means unsuccessful; but the memory of Handel was still too green to permit the possibility of a triumph. Handel's influence did not, however, extend to Germany, in which country the progress of Art was, about this time, surrounded with certain serious difficulties. The effect of the noble work wrought by Job. Seb. Bach, at Leipzig, did not even reach so far as Dresden. There, between 1731 and 1763, Hasse reigned supreme; and it is there, under his influence, that we must begin our study of the Oratorios of the.

Despite his cultivated tastes and undoubted talent, Hasse was wanting in the elevation of style necessary to constitute a really great Composer, especially in his Sacred Music; yet he was able to appreciate true dignity in the works of others. When invited to London, to take the direction of the newly-opened Opera House in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, he asked, 'Is Handel, then, dead?' and, on being told that his famous countryman still lived, but that he was expected to enter into rivalry with him, he at once declined the invitation. This line of conduct was, no doubt, prompted by true delicacy of feeling: but it proves, also, that Hasse did not misjudge his own powers. The real secret of his immense success seems to have lain in his ceaseless endeavour to please. This weakness led him into practices which, as we have already explained elsewhere, tended greatly to the deterioration of his Operas; and exercised so enervating an effect upon his Sacred Music that it eventually resulted in the production of a set form which has been not inaptly termed the 'Concert Oratorio'—a mere collection of Sacred Airs, united by no other tie than that of a common subject, which however they make no attempt to illustrate by working together as for a common purpose. No doubt these productions were very charming, especially when Faustina—Hasse's talented wife—sang in them as Prima donna: but, when judged by a fair æsthetic standard, they indicate a long step backward. Unhappily, so many of the Composer's MSS. were destroyed, during the bombardment of Dresden, in 1760, that we possess little more than the names of the greater number of his Oratorios, of which the most popular were 'Il serpente in deserto,' 'La virtu a piè della Croce,' 'La deposizione della Croce,' 'La caduta di Gerico,' 'Maddelena,' 'Il Cantico dei Fanciulli,' 'La Conversione di San Agostino,' 'Il Giuseppe Riconosciuto,' 'I Pellegrini al Sepolcro di nostro Salvatore,' 'Sant' Elena al Calvario,' and a German Oratorio, called 'Die Busse des heiligen Petrue.' Of these, one only, 'I Pellegrini al Sepolcro,' is readily accessible, in print, in the form of a German translation. Of many of the rest we possess only fragmentary portions, beautiful enough in themselves, though the works to which they belong fail, as a whole. The same fault is observable in the Oratorios of Porpora, the most successful of which were 'Davidde,' 'Gedeone,' 'Il Verbo Incarnate,' and 'Il trionfo della divina giustizia.' We also possess ten Oratorios, written about this time, by Fux; but they still remain in MS., never having been revived since the occasion of their first production.

The Composers of the made no attempt to improve the general form of the